It was only a few decades ago that words like ‘wealth’, ‘finance’, ‘enterprise’ and ‘profits’ were not spoken in church circles. There was a distinct divide in people’s minds between ministry and money and between faith and finance. One pertained to the ‘secular’ and one the ‘spiritual’.

This was an unwritten rule that was widely complied by. To be poor and to ‘just get by’ in life was seen as virtuous and godly. And to have wealth was considered worldly.

Now, putting it bluntly, I have to say that these views are flawed, unbiblical, dishonoring to God and unhelpful to the church. What we need to realise is that, under the right circumstances, God actually advocates wealth.

In the beginning, God created planet Earth which had a vast degree of wealth. Think about the produce, the land and the livestock for starters. Adam and Eve enjoyed a portion of this in the Garden of Eden. There was more than enough. They had plenty to sustain them.

Conversely, at the end of time we will enter into our eternal reward with God in the new heavens and earth. The mansions that we will live in and the streets of gold that we will walk on set the scene for the kind of wealth we will enjoy.

The point here is that God never changes; only the circumstances do. We are living in a time where God’s Kingdom is spreading throughout the Earth. Where humans are reuniting with their God and re-establishing their covenant relationship. That means we can experience the blessings of wealth and use them in a God honouring way – right now. It’s not just a matter of ‘pie in the sky when you die’, but there’s ‘steak on the plate while you wait’!

An Eternal Focus

When Christians have wealth, to whatever degree, it’s vital that they understand what to do with it. The Bible is full of warnings about wealth and the trappings that it can bring. That’s why you need to be on guard. The key is to have a godly focus. Let me explain how you can do this.

At the time of writing, the oldest person to have ever lived in our modern age is Madam Jeanne Louise Calment of France. She reached the ripe old age of 122 years. Take this life and divide it by the 6,000 years of the earth’s existence so far, and you see that Jeanne only had a 2% time slot on planet earth. And that’s the best anyone is getting at the moment, most people get nearer 1%.

But when you measure that life span against eternity past and eternity future you get an extremely small slither of time. In fact, technically, it’s measured as ‘zero time’, because any number divided by eternity is zero.

What I’m saying is this: what we do with our lives now can make a difference to not only ‘how’ we spend eternity, but ‘where’ others spend it. There are no second chances in life; it’s not a trial run. If we don’t tell people about God’s Kingdom, his love and saving grace, then we might be the last chance they get. So we have to get back to the great commission.

Here’s the bottom line: our mission cost money. Even if we live a faith-filled life, we will not be able to complete our task without adequate financing. Food and clothing need to be purchased for the poor. Economies need establishing in developing countries. Building projects need financing. Church staff wages need paying. Teaching programmes have to be established. Missionaries need to be sent out to the nations. Bibles need printing. And so on and so on. All of these things are going to help save millions and millions from spending eternity in Hell.

If you view wealth through the lens of eternity and not the temporal lens of your physical existence here on earth, then will start to see a positive, godly perspective on the whole subject.

Investing in God’s Business

Deuteronomy 8:18 tells us to remember God because “it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth”.

Even now, around 3500 years on, many people forget that all wealth originates from God. But like any prudent businessperson, he requires a return on his investment – a spiritual return on investment (SROI), if you will.

What does this return look like? Quite simply it is increase generated, through the stewarding of our gifts that are used to advance God’s Kingdom.

In the parable of the talents, we see that the master (God) gave varying degrees of money to his servants (Christians) to invest. It’s interesting that Jesus used money in this parable, although I believe that the ‘talent’ represents more than just money, but also the gifts he has given us. In terms of the particular gift of wealth creation, we all have different levels given to us. The question is: what return on our investment are we going to present back to God when he returns?

Taking all this into consideration let me ask you some questions as a Christian leader:

How are you nurturing Christians to maximise the money they have?
How are you encouraging the creation of wealth amongst your people?
How are you nurturing the gift of entrepreneurialism in would-be business leaders in your congregation?
How are you relating to, and working with, those who are already using the gift of wealth creation?

As you intentionally tackle these questions and develop an eternal perspective on how we can use finances in the church, you’ll hopefully come to the realisation that money ‘does’ matter in the church today.